Airplane safety device



May 25 1926. A. J. HARPSTRITE AIRPLANE SAFETY DEVICE Filed-Dgo. 24, 1925 3 sheets-sheet 1 Irren-.lq

May 25,1926. 1,585,978

- A. J, HARPSTRITE v AIRPLANE SAFETY DEv-1cE Filed Deo. 24, i925' 5 sheets-sheet :5

` INVENTOR, fav sav-taf WWW ' TORNEY.

Patented May 25, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUGUTUS J'. HARPISTRITE, OF LOS ANGELESLCALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF. ONE-HALF T FRED HARPSTRITE, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

AIRPLANE SAFETY DEVICE.

Application led December 24, 1925. Serial No. 77,553.

This invention relates to airplanes and more especially to poising or descending control means.

My present invention has to do with means whose cardinal object is to increase the factor of safety, alone, in heavier-than-air machines. This type of machine has now arrived at a high state of speed efficiency and development is now being directed toward freight and passenger capacity.

My aim is to advance the art by offerlng safety means to be made effective, mostly, in emergency and to provide means normally in reserve and so designed as to not materially decrease speed in ordinary travel.V

The present invention is to be regarded in the same respect to airplanes as life boats are to steamships, fire-escapes to buildings, and parachutes to aviators.

The invention consists of a wind-wheel combined with an overhead poisin propeller. and means for retracting the wlndwheel and propeller to ineffective position to reduce resistance loss. An object is to provide means for checking speed of head on descent by utilizing air pressure on the windwheel for initial resistance to descent and to utilize the wheel to drive an overhead propeller whose function is to keep the ship on an even keel if possible.

The advantage of this apparatus is that when a forced landing is necessary, the pilot can quickly set the safety means in effective position and thereby obtain a longer floating range and greater opportunity to select a preferable landing spot because of the increased buoyancy in the air and with it a reduction of speed of fall. The work done by the air upon the wind-wheel and the propeller is thus effective to reduce the rate of descent.

Additional objects and advantages will. be made manifest in the following specification of apparatus incorporating an embodiment of the invention, it being understood that modifications, variations and adaptations may be resorted to within the spirit and lscope of the claims, and the principle of the' invention.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of an airplane equipped with the apparatus, which is shown in projected, effective position.

Figure 2 is a plan of a portion of the unreefed wind-wheel.

plane with the Wind-wheel in retracted poy sition.

In adapting the invention to an airplane the central body portion of the fuselage A is provided with an opening 2 in its top and a slot 3 in itsbottom.

Mounted on stout frame work F in the body is what may be called a rockingchair which includes side posts 5 havin trunnions 6 journalled upon frame F, an

being cross-connected at top and bottom by e ties 7. f

Tothe ties 7 is solidly attached a gear segment 8 well supported 1n guides 9 and being movable about its center by a worm 10 on a shaft 11 suitably geared to an operating shaft 12 which may have a hand-wheel 13 or be otherwise turned at will so as to rock the chair.

Fixed on the lower end of the chair is a bearing-box 14 in which is slidably and turnably mounted a sleeve-shaft 15 whose lower end passes out through the slot 3 and carries a wind-wheelW, to be described in detail later. Splined and sliding in the sleeve-shaft 15 is centerfshaft 16 with a key part 17 shiftable along the sleeve 15.

The upper end of the center-shaft 16 passes through tandem bearing boxes 19 which are fixed between and to the top of posts 5 5. Hence the boxes 14-19--19 are a part of the rockable chair and will tilt the two-part shaft device 15-16. on the trunnions 6 which are at the center of segment 8.

Between bearings 19 and keyed on centershaft 16 is a gear 20 which meshes with a pinion 21 splined on a spindle 22 which slides in bearings 23-24; the former being extendedupward at 23 to form a support for the upper part of the spindle 22, which is provided with a propeller 25. The bearings' 23--24 form a part of the chair, Whose top has a shutter 26 moving under and clos ing the deck hole 2.

The spindle 22 extends down into a stepbearing 27 which is much elongated and has a side rack 28 engaging a pinion 29 on a short shaft 30 having a gear 31 meshing with a gear 32 coaxial with the trunnions 6-6 of the rocking-chair posts 5. The gear' 32 is loose on the trunnion and may be turned `at will by any suitable mechanism including, for instance, a worm 33 on a shaft 34 which may be operated at will by hand or other power. as from a remote control which may be at the pilots compartment or cock-pit.

Meshing with pinion 29 is a rack 36 which has a. ring 37 loosely mounted on the upper end of the sleeve 15 between its collars 15. The upper end of the rack 36 has a ring loose on the centershaft 16. y

To prevent rotation of the rack With the shaft 15-16 a guide rod 4,() is fixed to bearings 14-19 and receives lugs 38 which form a part of the rack device 36.

The step-bearing 27 (of spindle 22) is slidable but not rotative, in a tubular bearing 42 which is fixed with the chair posts 5.

New it will be seen that if the pinion 29 is rotated the rack 28 will cause the stepbearing to push spindle 22 upward and rack 36 will push sleeve 15 downward through bearing 14 so as to position the Wind-Wheel below a guard skirt 45.

. Spindle 22 moves up to elevate the propeller 25 as far as possible so as to obtain a considerable leverage and stabilizing effect while rotating as the boat settles in the air. A shoulder 22 on the spindle limits its upward movement by engaging bearing 24.

Obviously, if the wind-wheel drives sleeve lthis will drive pinion 25 at an increased rate with the result of tending to keep the propeller spindle upright and poising the ship. The slower moving, large wind-wheel yis driven by air resistance andspins the overhead propeller.

The extended bearing 23 is stayed Vby guys 46 and the spindle 22 has a bridle ring 47. just under the propeller 25, which has abridle 48 att-ached to cross-arms 49 which are fixed to the rocking chair.

The Wind-wheel W is of a type having folding or reefable blades 50 a series of which are mounted on axles 51 which are arranged equidistant in a circular spider 52 which is fixed on the lower end of the sleeveshaft 15 and is pulled by it up into the skirt 45. The bla'des 50 have quadrants 53 which mesh with a central gear 54 loosely mounted upon the sleeve 15.

The quadrants 53 are alternately offset so as the clear each other when the gear 54 turns them and which action is accomplished by any suitable means, as a spring device 55. When the Wheel spider 52 is in retracted position a dog-pin 56 fixed adjustably in the body A, enters the spider and interlocks with the gear 54, which has previously been turned enough by reefing in the wind blades 50. This action tensions the spring 55 amply to cause it to throw out the blades just as soon as the spider moves down suificiently to clear the pin 56 from the gear 54;'this bein as soon as the blades are well clear of the s irt.

The operation is as follows:

In event of a forced landing, as from a dead motor, or other causes not rendering the ship Wholly uncontrollable, the pilot or other able passenger acting in his stead in any emergency (as his death) will quickly operate the control of the projecting gear 32 and cause extension of the Wind wheel and the propeller 25, coincident with which ac* tion the dog-pin 56 releases the reefed blades 50 and as these spread open to a large area of air pressure the air resistance will drive the telescopic shaft parts 15-16 and the multiplying gears 20-*21 Will drive the propeller 25 at a very much greater rate. The propeller 25 being, at this time, high above the top plane of the ship and rotating fast will tend to keep the ship in a drifting position and also act to reduce falling rate.

If the ship is nosing down the attendant will turn the control gear device l2 and so rock the chair structure 8-6-6 and all parts mounted thereon as to tilt the windwheel forward and the propeller 25 rearward as in Fig. 1 and so keep the shaft parts 15-16 parallel with or toward the line of descent.

When the blades 50 swing to fully open position a spring latch 60 comes into effect and locks the gear 54 so that the blades are locked in unreefed position until unlocked and reefed.

The invention claimed is:

1. A safety appliance, in combination with air craft, including an overhead propeller and a lower wind-wheel operatively connected thereto so that air resistance on the wind-Wheel will drive the said propeller said wind-wheel being arranged in the bottom of the craft.

2. A safety appliance, for air craft, including an overhead propeller and a retract-ive lower wind-wheel operatively connected thereto so that air resistance on the windwheel will drive the said propeller, and means for locking the wind-wheel in retracted position.

3. A safety appliance, for air craft, including an overhead propeller and a lower Wind-Wheel operatively connected thereto so that air resistance on the wind-wheel will drive the said propeller, and means for relatively extending the propeller. and the windwheel.

4. A safety appliance, for air craft, in

drive the said propeller, and means for prof jecting the wind-wheel downward from the bottom of vthe craft upon which it is mounted.

6. A safety appliance, for air craft, in-

i cluding an overhead-propeller and a lower wind-wheel operatively connected thereto so that air resistance on the wind-wheel will drive the said propeller, means for projecting the propeller upward as to the deck of the craft upon which it is mounted, and `means for projecting the wind-wheel downward from the bottom of the craft upon which it is mounted.

'i'. A safety appliance, for air craft, including an overhead propeller and a lower wind-wheel operatively connected so that air resistance on the wind-wheel will drive the said propeller, and means for concurrently projecting the -propeller -upward and the wind-wheel downward.

8. A ysafety appliance, in combination with air craft, including an overhead propeller and a wind-wheel operatively connected so that air resistance onthe windwheel will drive the said propeller and disposed in the bottom of the craft, and means for tiltin the wind-wheel axis forward toward a ine of descent.

9. .A safety appliance, for air craft, including an overhead propeller Vand a. lower wind-wheel.operatively connected so that air resistance on the'wind-wheel will drive the said propeller, and means for tilting the wind-wheel axis forward toward a line of descent, and tilting the propeller axis rearward the propeller and the wind-wheel being on opposite sides of the axis lof tilt.

10. Asa-fety appliance, for air craft, including an overhead ropeller and a lower windwheel operative y connected so that air resistance on the wind-wheel will drive the said propeller, and means for tilting the cluding -any overhead wind-wheel axis forward toward a line of descent and concurrently tiltingthe propeller axis rearward the propeller and the windwlheel being on opposite sides of the axis of tit.

1l. A safety appliance, for air craft, including an overhead propeller and a lower wind-wheel, connected shafts therefor, and

.a device combined with the vshafts for relatively extending the propeller andthe wind- .wheel to active positions.

12. A safety appliance, for aircraft, including an overhead propeller and alower wind-wheel, connected shafts'therefor, and a device combined with the shafts for relatively extcnding the propeller and the windwheel to active positions, and a rocking-chair structure upon which said device and shafts are mounted so as to change the angle of the propeller and the wind-wheel as to the air craft.

13. A safety appliance, for -air craft, in# cluding an overhead propeller and a lower wind-wheel operatively connected so that air resistance on the wind-wheel will drive the said propeller, ,said wind-wheel having reefable blades, and means for unreefing the blades to make the wheel effective.

14. A safety appliance, for air craft, including an overhead propeller and a lower wind wheel operatively connected so that air resistance on the wind-wheel will drive the said propeller, means for relatively extending the propeller and the wind-wheel, and means for spreading blades of the, windwheel to active position.

15. A safety appliance, for air craft, including an overhead` propeller and a lower wind-wheel operatively connected so that air resistance on the wind-wheel will drive the said propeller, and means for relatively extending the propeller and the wind-wheel, and automatic means for spreading blades of the wind-wheel to active position.

16. A safety appliance, for air craft, in-

Vropeller and a'lower wind-wheel operative y connectedy thereto so that air resistance on the wind-wheel will drive the said propeller, and means for relatively extending the propeller and the windwheel and for retracting them.

AUGUSTUS J. HARPSTRITE. 

